


Shadows' Bride

by swan_tower (russian_blue)



Series: Twisted Fairy Tales [4]
Category: Fairy Tales and Related Fandoms, La Belle au bois dormant | Sleeping Beauty - Charles Perrault, Sleeping Beauty – All Media Types
Genre: Lovecraftian, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-29
Updated: 2011-12-29
Packaged: 2017-10-28 10:18:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/306839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/russian_blue/pseuds/swan_tower
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rated T for creepy Lovecraftian elements.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shadows' Bride

Their laughter is the silence of empty rooms, the hush of dust lying decades thick. Their smiles leer from metal reflections marred by tarnish and rust. Their jest has entertained them for many a year.

They wait for the light, and the man who will bring it. He will wake his bride, and take her, and her body will swell with the passing moons; he will believe the child his own.

But others have been in the tower before him.

He will think his bride a virgin, and see the blood as proof; he will not realize the truth. The shadows have had her a thousand times, in a thousand different ways, as she lies in her sleep that is so like death, and that is why they laugh.

Though unwed, she is the shadows' bride, and when the light comes, their child will awaken to be born.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally published in the charity anthology _Shadow Box_ , ed. Shayne Jiraiya Cummings and Angela Challis, October 2005). Since I now have it up for free on my [website](http://www.swantower.com/index.html), though, I figured I might as well post it here.


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